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How U.S. Businesses Can Compete with China in Emerging Markets: Transitioning from a ‘Death Economy’ to a ‘Life Economy’
For decades, American businesses working in emerging markets have prioritized profit maximization regardless of the social and environmental costs — an approach that economist and author John Perkins describes as the "death economy." But as China has supplanted America as the top investor and trading partner in many of these markets, Perkins attributes its success to its embrace of the ideals — if not always the practices — of sustainable development. He explores how China's promotion of a regenerative "life economy" has resonated in developing countries, and how U.S. businesses can respond.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing, Transportation
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Outgrowing the Flower Pot: Why Just Selling Productive Equipment to Smallholder Farmers is Not Enough
A new wave of companies are bringing equipment powered by renewable, decentralized energy to smallholders, and these devices can significantly boost farmers' yields and product quality. But as Daniel Waldron, Christopher Emmott, Priyanka Dudeja, Paraag Sabhlok and Chris Wayne at Acumen explain, just like a tree growing in a flower pot, this new growth can become a burden if it has nowhere to go. They argue that productive equipment must be combined with market access interventions to truly benefit smallholders, and highlight two innovative companies that are demonstrating the impact of this approach.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Six Business Plan Pitfalls to Avoid When Approaching Funders: Lessons from Healthcare Enterprises in Emerging Markets
Having a good business plan is a key part of building credibility with funders. But despite its importance to an enterprise’s success, many entrepreneurs in emerging markets struggle to develop a strong business plan that instills confidence among potential funders. Paul Clyde and Ioan Cleaton-Jones at the William Davidson Institute discuss six common business plan mistakes that can undermine an entrepreneur's prospects with funders, based on their work supporting the development of business plans for hundreds of healthcare enterprises in various emerging markets.
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- Health Care, Investing
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How Foreign Aid Can Innovate Itself Out of Existence: Exploring the Potential of Market-Creating Innovation for Sustainable Development
The foreign aid sector has long been criticized for its inability to generate consistent economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. According to Efosa Ojomo at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a new approach to aid is needed: one that recognizes the power of business innovation to create new markets that advance local prosperity. He discusses a new pan-African initiative based on that approach, which aims to mobilize aid, business and African institutions to build new markets that generate self-sustaining economic growth.
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- Health Care, Investing
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Lessons in Resilience: What an Impact Investor Learned from an Entrepreneur Who Refused to Give Up
Entrepreneurship is a long game, and winning often comes down to grit. One case in point: Arindam Dasgupta, the co-founder and CEO of Tamul Plates, who has built a thriving business in India despite the historic challenges of recent years. Sachi Shenoy at Calidris and Steve Schwartz at the World Economic Forum were early investors in Tamul Plates through Upaya Social Ventures, the impact investing firm they co-founded. They discuss what Dasgupta has taught them about the qualities and practices investors should look for when seeking resilient entrepreneurs.
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- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Just Useful… Or Truly Catalytic? How Entrepreneurs Really View Catalytic Capital — And What Impact Investors Can Do About It
Much of the attention in the impact finance sector tends to go to the stewards of capital — investors, foundations and other funders — most of whom firmly believe that catalytic capital is the type of finance that entrepreneurs value most. But as Bjoern Struewer at Roots of Impact and Jed Emerson at Tiedemann point out, it's unclear if investors' assumptions about the value of catalytic capital align with entrepreneurs’ actual opinions about it. They discuss new research that explores what entrepreneurs really value in this type of financing — and how these structures might be improved.
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- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2022: Vote for Your Favorite!
It's time for NextBillion's “Most Influential Article of the Year” contest, in which we select our 12 most-read articles from the past year and invite readers to choose their favorites. We welcome you to read the articles and to vote by scrolling down to the voting app at the bottom of this announcement — or at the individual articles in the contest, which are linked in this announcement and posted on our homepage. You can vote up to one time per hour during the voting period, which will run from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3. We wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year!
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Environment, Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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The Link Between WASH and ROI: New Research Shows How Investing in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Benefits Both Employees and the Bottom Line
There are clear links between water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and workplace productivity: WASH facilities improve worker health and wellbeing, boosting productivity and business performance. But as Kelly Parsons at WaterAid America explains, there has been a lack of research on how much WASH interventions really impact the bottom line of businesses in emerging markets. She shares results from a new WaterAid report that assessed the ROI of WASH investments at several businesses in India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Tanzania, and discusses how to maximize the impact of these interventions.
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